Today Is Valentine's Day. So What?

In theory, there are three types of people today: the lovers, the haters, and the hipsters.

The lovers are the people out there celebrating a day of love and joy and spending the $126.03 that the National Retail Federation says they’re expected to spend on their loved ones. Then there are the haters, whose cold, miserable hearts beat 20-fold smaller and colder today because they are alone and sad about being alone. Finally, there are the hipsters, who are too cool to celebrate such a blatantly commercial and overrated holiday, and so instead of spending money on red roses and chocolate, they are spending it on ironic cards, anti-Valentine’s day events, and black rose crops on FarmVille.

But you know what? My Facebook feed is not filled up with alternatively joyful/miserable/too-cool-for-school posts. Neither is my Twitter feed. “Valentine’s Day” might be trending, but it’s mostly people cheerfully wishing everyone else a happy holiday. I see lots and lots of news stories talking about how passionately for or against the day people feel and I see piles and piles of stuff in stores, but I’ll be honest â€” I don’t get that same sense out of people themselves.

Most folks I’ve run into so far are the same: they’re either pleasantly wishing each other a nice V-Day, or they’re flat-out indifferent because it’s Tuesday and there’s stuff that needs doing. Those who have someone to celebrate with, maybe they’re having a moment together, and that’s totally fine, why not take advantage of a day to strengthen a relationship? And those who don’t have someone, as far as I can tell, they’re wishing well to their friends and family. In fact, while there’s no shortage of anti-Valentine’s Day going on around town, even those sound more fun than vindictive â€” an excuse for singles to mingle and get out on the town on a Tuesday night they might otherwise spend in their routine days.

Am I alone in my corner of the world, or is everyone just more rational than they’re being given credit for? What say you, readers?

And as for me, I’m just enjoying all the free chocolate that Whole Foods has been giving out for the past week.